


Junior Bending League Championships

by finereluctance



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, Gen, Junior Bending League, Lin!centric, Pro-Bending, growing up in Republic City, teenage!Lin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:46:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26092096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finereluctance/pseuds/finereluctance
Summary: Lin Beifong is the youngest member of the Winged Lemurs, competing in her first Junior Bending League Championships! Her best friend Tenzin is along for the ride with her family, and learning to navigate relationships, growing up, and finding her way out of her mother's shadow.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Tenzin
Kudos: 11





	1. Match 1 - Deer Dogs vs. Winged Lemurs

_[Announcer: We're here at Game One of the Junior Bending Championships, between the Winged Lemurs and the Deer Dogs. Over the next four weeks, we'll get the opportunity to see what our teenage benders can do in the arena. Who knows, in a few years you might be seeing some of these competitors in the pro-bending league!]_

It was a Saturday afternoon in the spring, and Lin Beifong was in the Winged Lemurs' locker room stretching in preparation for her first match. Her teammates were on the other side of the room talking and shoving at each other in jest, but she steadily ignored them and focused on her own stretches. 

It wasn't that she didn't like them, they worked well together as a team, but the two boys were three and four years older than she was, and they didn't have much in common outside of the sport. She was the youngest member of the team and the only girl, and that meant she had a lot to live up to. Not to mention her mother is the greatest earth bender alive, and she's never once been able to meet Toph's expectations. Her hands are flat on the floor as stretches, trying not to hope too much for her mother to be in the audience. It's not like she could watch Lin anyway, with the pool around the ring cutting off any chance for using her seismic sense.

She knows Tenzin is in the stands with Aunt Katara and Uncle Sokka, who is looking after Suyin today. That's usually more than enough for Lin, but she still hopes foolishly that her mother would take the time off work to watch her compete now that her team is in the championships.

Lin exhales slowly, counting the seconds in her head, her heart rate slowing as she focuses on her breathing and shuts the thoughts of her family out of her mind. The voices of her teammates fade as she breathes, counting slowly, the voice of the announcer talking about the competing teams fades out, as does the general clamor and noise of the audience.

She shifts to the next position as she exhales, standing on just her toes as she brings her arms up above her head, as straight and tall as she can be, holding there for a thirty count before bringing her arms down, straight out to either side.

"Hey Beifong, time to roll," Kan's voice broke through her concentration, bringing her back to the arena as all the other noise floods back in with it. "You ready for this?"

Lin finishes her count before she settles back onto the balls of her feet and nods. "Let's do this."

_[Announcer: You'll want to keep an eye on the Winged Lemur's earthbender in this first match - she's qualified as the youngest competitor in the Junior League at only twelve years old, but what else would you expect from the daughter of Republic City's own Chief Toph Beifong!]_

She follows her teammates out onto the platform that will deliver them to the ring. Kan and Ezul grin and wave at the crowd, but Lin faces forward, focused and ready for this match. They've been preparing all season for it, and if they keep to their training, she knows they shouldn't have any trouble wiping the Deer Dogs into the water.

They take their positions in the middle of the ring, faced off with the Deer Dogs member whose element matches their own. Across the zone line from Lin is a seventeen year old earth kingdom boy, broad-shouldered and more than a foot taller than her - stereotypical earth bender, firm in his stance.

Lin's gaze slides to the fire bender faced off against Ezul - an older teenage girl, probably sixteen or seventeen - and then to the lanky water bender standing opposite Kan. Assessing them, she takes note of their opening stances and is confident in her team's ability.

Ding!

_[Announcer: Right off the start, the Winged Lemurs are shifting positions! Lin nails Leh in the chest, forcing him into Zone Two as she swaps to center, with Ezul moving to the side. Azeko tries to hit the earth bender, but that girl is light on her feet, and Azeko also falls back to Zone Two!]_

Lin twists, avoiding another spot of fire and then double stomps, getting two disks in the air that she sends straight at the Deer Dog's water bender, forcing him to fall back into Zone Two with his teammates. He's still scrambling to his feet when they get the green light to advance into the next zone.

From her right, Kan slaps the fire bender in the face with a waterspout, and Lin takes the opening it gives her to slam two more discs into the girl's stomach, sending her back to the very edge of the platform with the breath knocked out of her. 

_[Announcer: These Winged Lemurs look like they're here to win, they aren't showing any mercy as Azeko is left in Zone Three. Lin and Kan are swapping positions now, putting Kan and Ezul together on Leh, who quickly falls back into Zone Three under the dual onslaught of fire and water. On the other side of the ring, Lin is not giving Parnuk a chance to recover - One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Parnuk is in the water!]_

The green light dings, giving the Winged Lemurs the next zone, and it's all but over. One slap of water sends Azeko over the edge, and then Lin, Ezul, and Kan all hit Leh at the same time, forcing him off the platform to join his teammates in the pool below.

_[Announcer: And that's a Knockout, folks! The Winged Lemurs will advance to the next round - we'll look forward to seeing them compete again next week!]_

Ezul and Kan each slap her on the back before jumping at each other to chest-bump, their cheers joining the loud shouts of the rest of the audience. Lin grins and elbows them both, herding them out of the ring and onto the platform back to the locker room.

She can't help but smile as they get back to the locker room. A good match is always exhilarating and they had done well together today with the tactics they had practiced. 

Lin takes her time taking off her protective pads, while the boys chuck theirs into their bags as quickly as they can to get out of there. "We're outta here, Beifong! Try to enjoy the win, would ya?" Ezul grins at her as he hauls open the door for Kan to leave.

"I'm going to stay to watch the other matches," she offers him a smile and a shrug. "I'll let you know how it goes at practice."

"Later, Beifong!" Kan hollers from the hallway and then both the boys are gone and it's quiet as it's going to get in the locker room. She can still hear the crowd and the announcer getting everyone excited for the next match, but it's a dull roar she can easily ignore. She finishes removing her uniform and stowing it all neatly in her gym bag before pulling her ponytail out so she can brush her hair, leaving it down afterwards. 

Just as she finished putting her things away, as she expected, there's a knock on the door and it opens a second later to reveal Tenzin, who is grinning widely at her. "That was amazing, Lin! That new move looked awesome!" 

"Thanks, Ten," her answering smile is warm and clearly pleased by the praise. She swings her bag over her shoulder as he grabs her other hand to drag her out of the locker room.

"Come on, Uncle Sokka got us really good seats today so we can watch the rest of the matches!" 

The grin never left her face as Tenzin dragged her through the arena to their seats - they had a clear view of the whole ring from center - prattling on about the match and how good she was. Her cheeks flushed pink as they always did when he got like this, unused to the attention, and it wasn't until she reached the rest of her family that the flush, along with her smile, faded. As she had expected, Toph was nowhere to be seen.


	2. Match 2 - Armadillo Sloths vs. Cat Gators

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Match 2 of the Junior Bending League Championships! Lin is scoping out the competition!

Sokka threw his arms around Lin when she slid into the seat beside him, hugging her tight. She hid her face against his shoulder so he wouldn’t see her disappointment that her mom wasn’t with him, but Uncle Sokka gave the best hugs and it was hard to stay upset when he was so excited about her match.

“Linny! That was amazing!” He squeezed her tight one last time before letting her settle back in her seat. “That water bender didn’t stand a chance! You’re getting so fast with your earth disks, I didn’t even see your foot moving after the first one!” 

Her cheeks flush with the praise and Tenzin squeezes her hand, still holding onto it from when he dragged her through the stadium to their seats. “That’s that new move she’s been working on! No one else can do it!”

Aunt Katara leaned around Sokka, smiling but clearly bothered by something. Lin tensed out of reflex, waiting for the criticism of what she did wrong. “That was a very good match, Lin. Are you allowed to be using so many air bending moves, though? Won’t they penalize you?”

She breathes out and forces herself to smile back at her aunt, shrugging. “There’s no rules against using other bending maneuvers.” Katara’s criticism is always softer than her mom’s; she doesn’t know why she lets it get to her so much, but no matter that she just completed a flawless match there is always something that could be better. She hates it, but there’s nothing she can do about it except double squeeze Tenzin’s hand, and get a double squeeze back in their own secret code.

Lin tried to talk to Uncle Sokka about it once, but he just explained that her mom and Katara just want her to be the best she can be, and that was the end of it. As far as Lin is concerned, Tenzin is really the only one who gets it. He may be the only one who gets it worse than she does, always being compared to his father’s airbending prowess. How does one live up to the Avatar who had mastered airbending by age ten? Tenzin was already thirteen, with dark wavy hair he had no interest in shaving off at the moment, air tattoos nowhere to be seen. How does one live up to the legendary Toph Beifong, master earthbender and inventor of an entirely new bending style by age twelve? Lin was twelve, the spitting image of her mother, with a functional grasp on metal bending and a hypersensitive seismic sense she still hasn’t learned to fully control. They never stood a chance.

_[Announcer: We’re about to get underway with our second match of the day, between the Armadillo Sloths and the Cat Gators! Both of these are veteran teams, this is their third year each making the championships with no team changes. They might not win every time, but both of these teams are consistent, and you can bet this will be a good match up!]_

The crowd erupts around them in cheering and stomping as the teams enter the ring. Without missing a beat, Tenzin nudges Lin’s bag into the space in front of her seat so she can prop her feet up on it to get them away from the overwhelming vibrations in the stone floor. She taps her index finger twice against his knuckle where their hands are still clasped between them. ‘Thank you.’ He bumps his shoulder against hers, his full attention on the ring when she glances over at him with a smile. ‘I’m here.’

_[Announcer: In the ring you’ve got Lumu, Amora, and Horlek for the Armadillo Sloths facing off against Kiva, Daru, and Yuto on the Cat Gators. You’ll want to pay special attention to the firebender twins as they go head-to-head today! Last year these two faced off in a tiebreaker in the semi-final, which went in Daru’s favor before the Cat Gators lost in the finals. It’s a shame these two teams are matched against each other so early this year, but it’ll certainly be a strong match!]_

“Ten yuan says we go to another tie-breaker,” Sokka offers beside her, and Lin giggles. He’s not wrong. These two teams are an even match, have always been an even match, and will stay an even match until they all age out of the League or mix up their lineups at some point. 

“Sokka! You’re not betting on a Junior Bending match!” Katara’s scandalized voice from further down made Tenzin’s laugh join Lin’s. 

“You’re on, Uncle Sokka.” Lin tossed out with a grin. “But I’ll raise twenty on Amora to win the tie-breaker.”

“Hey, hey big spender!” Sokka laughed, “You’re on!” 

“You’re a terrible influence, Sokka! I don’t know why Toph lets you around the girls.” Katara smacked him in the arm and he just laughed more as the match began.

_[Announcer: the Armadillo Sloths are coming out strong with a volley, Lumu is just taking those discs from Kiva like a champ as they team up on Daru and force him back into Zone Two. That’s a strong start to get the firebender out of the way. Looks like they’re going to work on Kiva now, whose discs are going wild while she can’t see from the water whips Horlek is wielding masterfully. He originated this maneuver last year, and we’ve seen a number of other water benders picking it up with varying levels of success, but none have found the duration sweet spot to avoid penalties like Horlek has managed. And a blast from Amora has Kiva joining her teammate in Zone Two! Half our time has gone from this round, with no one gaining any ground yet, it’ll be up to Yuto to hold onto Zone One!]_

In the stands, Lin is watching Horlek intently, studying the exact motions he uses to swing the whip out without breaking the one second duration he is allowed contact between his whips and his opponent’s face. Kan has been trying to get this move down along with most of the other water benders in the league, but like the others, he hasn’t been able to get the timing right and it resulted in too many penalties, so it was scrapped from their rotation earlier in the season. She knew he was still working on it outside of practice, so any chance she had to watch Horlek use it she tried to find the trick to the maneuver. There had to be one.

_[Announcer: Green light! Armadillo Sloths advance into Cat Gator territory with sixty seconds left in the match, but it looks like the Cat Gators have been biding their time and waiting for this! Horlek is already pushed back into Armadillo Sloth territory, keeping him out of range for use of the water whips.]_

Lin’s eyes grew wider as she watched Lumu stomp for multiple earthen disks and none appeared. “Kiva drained the earth disks on that side of the ring with those wild shots! She did it on purpose!”

_[Announcer: With no disks to bend, Lumu needs to find some soon or - OH! Too late! Without any coverage from her teammates, Amora has been pushed back into Armadillo Sloth territory, leaving Lumu alone with nothing to bend in the Zone, and only fifteen seconds to hold onto their gained territory.]_

“I can’t watch!” Cried Katara as the three Cat Gators moved together in front of Lumu, who was moving across the zone desperately trying to find some disks. They were using Lumu as a sacrificial shield so Amora and Horlek would have to risk hitting their own teammate in the back if they wanted to hit the Cat Gators who were running out the clock. 

_[Announcer: Ten seconds left! The Cat Gators need to make their move now - and there it is! With a coordinated attack, Lumu is forced back into Armadillo Sloth territory, giving the Cat Gators the green light to re-enter their Zone One as the clock runs out on a tie! What a round! Hang tight for our teams to recoup and Round Two will be underway in just a few minutes!]_

“They weren’t kidding about this being an even match up,” Sokka elbowed Lin playfully. “What do you think, Linny? Your team have a chance against them?”

Lin just smiles. “We’ll win regardless which of them moves forward.”

“You’re so sure about that?” 

She can tell that Sokka is teasing her, but he also actually wants to know her opinion on the match, so she shares it. “The Armadillo Sloths and the Cat Gators have been playing the same game since the league started. They have the same few maneuvers and approaches, and they don’t deviate or try anything new. They lose to teams who can creatively maneuver around their tactics, but they will always beat the inexperienced teams who don’t work in tandem and good teams that are having an off-day.”

Sokka looks impressed with her assessment, and she can practically feel Tenzin’s proud smile as a physical touch.

“Their next round will go to the Armadillo Sloths gaining one zone when Horlek takes Daru out of the action and the others take out Kiva first so she can’t clear zone one of disks. Yuto is a decent bender, but she won’t stand a chance against them without Daru or Kiva. They won’t take the zone though until it’s too late for the Cat Gators to retaliate. They’ll play to the clock.”

True to Lin’s prediction, the second round played out exactly as she said it would, right down to the Armadillo Sloths taking Zone One with four seconds left in the round.

Sokka gives her a sideways glance when the round is called in favor of the Armadillo Sloths. “You’ve been watching too many Bending matches.”

She just shrugged and laughed. “Like I said, they’ve played the same game against each other five times a year, every year since the League started. It doesn’t change, because they don’t change their tactics.”

“So to end in the tie-breaker, the Cat Gators will have to take one zone in round three,” Tenzin adds from her side. “They’ll probably go after Horlek first so he won’t be as effective with the water whips?”

Lin nods in agreement with his assessment, “You could see it at the end of the last round, Daru is done with the water whips. He’ll blast Horlek hard right on the bell, but there’s a good chance he’ll take a penalty for the force of it if he doesn’t control his temper.” She shrugs, “...I really don’t understand how those two are still dating.”

“Opposites attract, and all that?” Sokka offers with a laugh, but from her other side she can hear Tenzin having a sudden and unexpected coughing fit. 

She turned quickly to check on him, squeezing his hand lightly. “You okay there, airhead? You’re meant to bend air, not choke on it.”

He nods, his cheeks flushed, but he avoids her gaze for a moment and she frowns while he can’t see it. _How weird_ , she thinks. _He’s been doing that more and more lately._

The start of the third round effectively ends any additional conversation, but she relaxes when Tenzin squeezes her hand back and she puts any thoughts about his weird behavior to the back of her mind.

_[Announcer: Daru is unrelenting in his attacks on Horlek! What a way to start the round - Horlek is back in Zone Two and we’ve got a one zone penalty on Daru for sustained fire! Yuto is making some headway with Amora this round, keeping her on the defensive, but can she keep it up? Amora blasts back, but Yuto turns that fire into steam with a splash. Lumu and Kiva are tied up trading disks, but neither are gaining any ground. The Cat Gators need to get to work if they want a chance at this!]_

Ignoring the rest of the match, Lin’s attention was on Horlek’s fingers as he tried to get more distance out of his water whips. With an entire zone between them, the Cat Gators were keeping just a foot or two out of his long-range, which was more than enough to render him all but useless if he didn’t change tactics. The more he tried to reach them, the wider her grin grew, even at this distance, she could see exactly why he wouldn’t get the range because he was restricting himself to avoid a duration penalty. 

_[Announcer: And there goes Amora and Kiva joining Horlek in Zone Two! Cat Gators advance with ten seconds left. Horlek has had enough of this, he nails Daru in the chest with what looks like a water fist, and Daru re-enters Cat Gator territory, but it’s too little, too late! Kiva hangs on long enough for the round to go to the Cat Gators! Looks like we’ll be getting a tie-breaker between the Armadillo Sloths and the Cat Gators after all!]_

“If the Armadillo Sloths win the coin toss and they were being smart about it, they would use water for the tie-breaker. Yuto doesn’t stand a second against Horlek at close combat. But they won’t, it’ll always go to fire.” 

“Why is it always fire?” Tenzin rolls his eyes. “Every time there’s a tie-breaker, it’s always fire.”

Lin shrugs. “It’s flashy. The fire benders are usually the team captains anyway, and they get weird about trusting their teammates to handle a one-on-one.”

Uncle Sokka and Aunt Katara are both looking at her now too, and she glances around at all of them, a bit confused. “What? It’s a Fire Nation thing. The tie-breaker is basically just an Agni Kai.”

Katara flinches a little when she says it, but Lin isn’t too concerned. It’s not like she’s insulting the Fire Nation, she has too much respect for her uncle to say anything that wasn’t a basic, well-known fact.

“I didn’t think about it like that.” Tenzin frowns and goes quiet at her side.

Lin presses her shoulder against his, keeping the contact between them. She doesn’t know what she said to make him go quiet, but he’s not pulling away so she takes it that he’s just in his own head rather than actively upset with her. They don’t fight too often, but it’s never good for anyone when they do.

_[Announcer: The Armadillo Sloths have won the coin toss, we’re looking at a fire showdown between the twins, folks!]_

Amora and Daru stand face to face in the middle of the ring when the platform raises, but the round is over almost as soon as it begins. Daru is still clearly hurting from the water punch he took in the last round, and the strength of his fire suffers for it. Amora easily ducks his opening flame bursts, and then with a single blast of her own landing in the middle of his chest where the water fist had previously connected, he’s over the edge.

_[Announcer: Amora and the Armadillo Sloths will advance to round two next week! What a thrilling match!]_

Sokka and Katara are talking quietly between themselves, but Lin can’t hear what they’re saying over the noise of the crowd so she turns back to Tenzin. “Hey.”

“Hey.” He smiles back at her, but it doesn’t reach his eyes and it bothers her that she doesn’t understand what she said that bothered him so much. 

“I figured out how Horlek does it,” she offers, hoping that it’s enough to distract him from his own thoughts. “He figured out the volume of water he can whip to keep it within the duration, but because he’s only working with a specific amount that’s why he can’t get the distance.”

“You’re kidding!” Tenzin’s face morphs into disbelief. “There’s no way it’s that simple!”

“It’s that simple,” Lin grins at him. “It’s why he’s so consistent, because it’s simple.”

“Hey, Katara is going to take Suyin and head back to Air Temple Island,” Sokka’s voice cuts off their conversation and the teens turn their attention to the older man.

“Mom?” Tenzin asks hesitantly, and there’s that weirdness in it again that Lin doesn’t understand.

“I’m fine, sweetie.” She smiles, but it’s like Tenzin’s smile when it doesn’t reach her eyes. “You kids have fun and keep Sokka out of trouble.” 

“Hey!”

Katara ignores her brother’s outburst and lifts Lin’s little sister up so her head rests on Katara’s shoulder while she sleeps. “I’ll have dinner ready when you get home later. Lin, you’re staying over again tonight.”

With a chorus of “Thanks, Aunt Katara,” and “Bye, mom”, Sokka stands to walk her out leaving the teens in their seats to wait for the next match.


End file.
